Spring suspension for vehicles



E. C. GEISSBERGER.

SPRING SUSPENSION FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 20-I 1917.

1,347,154. Patented July 20, 1920.

ings, and to letters leaf springs.

rule, the

EMIL G. GEISSlBERGER, OF ZURICH, SWITZERLAND.

SPRING SUSPENSION FOR VEHICLES.

7 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. July 20, 1920.

Application filed November 20. 1917. Serial No. 202,939.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMIL CAsrAR Gnrss- BERGER, a citizen'of the Republicof Switzerland, residing at Zurich, N o. 6 WViesenstrasse, Switzerland,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spring i uspensionsfor Vehicles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawor figures of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a spring suspension for vehicles andparticularly to a spring suspension for motor cars comprising two Thecar springs hitherto known consist frequently of leaforlaminated-springs, which comprise a plurality of leaf-like platesarranged in superposed layers. As a foot-ends of two such springs arearranged adjacent each other and they are connected by means of a springstrap or the like, one spring lying on the left hand side and the otheron the right hand side of said strap. The axle is thereby fixed to thespring strap, while the outermost ends of the longest spring-leaf arefixed to the car frame. Another well known spring suspension is theso-called cantilever spring suspension, where the rear axle of the caris fixed to the free end of the longest springleaf and the spring strapis secured to the car frame toward the center of the car body. Comparedwith the first spring suspension referred to, the cantilever springsuspension hasthe advantage, in that the mass of the spring is fixed tothe spring supported part of the car, so that the part, which is notspring supported, may be made somewhat lighter. As a result of this, amore sensitive and a better spring suspension of the rear axle isobtained. The great drawback of'the cantilever spring suspensionconsists, however, in that the whole rear part of the car frame lyingbehind the point at which the spring is. fixed to the frame, isunsupported. This has a detrimental influence on the carriage body, asthe whole rear part of the latter together with the petrol tank and theluggage carrier, or in some cases the spare tires, are

wholly unsupported, 2'. e. freely suspended behind the point at whichthe spring is fixed to the car frame. In consequence of this, and owingto the violent shocks continually occurring when driving on a roughroad, the'unsupported rear end of the car body has of course thetendency to bend rearward and downward, which has a detri mentalinfluence on the back doors of the car body. The first kind of springsuspensions referred to has the drawback, that the mass of the spring isnot spring supported, while on the other hand it has the advan tage,that the car frame is supported up to its rear-most point, so that aperfectly stable support for the car body is obtained.

In order to improve the spring suspen sions hereinbefore described, ithas already been proposed to reverse the whole arrangement, 2'. c. tofix the free end of the longest spring-leaf to the axle and to secure,in the case where a so-called simple leaf-spring is provided, the springstrap to the end of the car. But this spring suspension also whilecomporting certain improvements, does not give the desired softness.

As the practical or useful limit for the length of the spring isdetermined, for instance in a motor car, 011 the one hand by the part ofthe under-frame extending beyond the axle and on the other hand, by theaxle, it was not heretofore possible to improve the spring suspension byincreasing the length of the spring. As a result of the presentinvention, it is now possible to improve the spring suspension and toincrease the length of the spring even in the case where the length ofthe vehicle is already y Ihe ob ect of this invention 1s to a springsuspension for vehicles, particularly motor cars, comprising two lezfsprings fixed to the carriage and in which one of the springs isarranged in front and the other one behind the wheel axle. The

provide free end of the longest spring-leaf of each of these two springsis connected with the axle to be spring supported and the arrangement ismoreover such, that the two springs are suspended on the axle onopposite sides of the horizontal plane passing through this axle to bespring supported, so that the two springs may even overlap each other.

This invention will now be more particularly described; with, referenceto theaccom panying drawings, which illustrate several constructionalexamples of the invention;

In these drawings: a Figure 1 is a side vlew of a first embod ment orthe novel sprlng suspension,

Fig. 2 is a corresponding side View of a' longest spring-leaf of alaminated or leafspring 15' by means of. a shackle 13; The

leaves of the laminated spring 5 are kept.

together by U -bolts 6 and those'of thelami nated spring 15 by means ofU-bolts 16. The U -bolts i6ar'e fixed tothe unsupported rear end 70f acar frame 8 and the Ll-bolts 16 are 'fixed to the of the 1. In thisspring suspension any spring-mass which is not. spring supportech.isehniinatedand the car frame is supported 7 up to its rearmost point.Owing to the overlappingof the two' springs in theinanner shown in Fig.1, longer springs n ay be used without making the part of the car fraiiie extending rearward too long.

Fig, 2 shows how two springs having. different lengths m'ay be used;

It is evi'lent, that the two springs; employed may have the, same. ordiilerent strength. 'According to this invention the point of attachment'ofthe longest springleaf maybe arranged, shouldnecessity arise,fartheraway from the axle. Thus, the endof the longest spring-leafniaybe fixed, forfinstance, to the "casing 20 of the brake Y dru'mlsee Figs.8 and 4) 1 in which case the springs may be made, for a given length ofthe'car, still longer than in the firsttwo embodiments illustr,ate d.

The spring suspension according. to this invention isparticnlarlyadapted to belused;

as front spring spring support for the front axle. froutspringsuspensions hitherto used were very deficient,a fact that had a very.detrimental influence on the spring suspensionof the whole car, it isevident, that this spring suspension applied to the front axlerepresents a great improvement. hen driving, the shocks are firsttransmitted to the front axle. from where they are then suspension, 1'.e. toact asa immediately transmitted tothe whole car frame, so thatQSIQOQtl] running or" a car provided with a (l6fiClGIlt,S13I1I1g suspenson forthe front axle could not even be 7 connected to the car frame,

frame on. the. opposite side independent of each other.

As the novel Obtained 7 tionaim:

1'. A spring suspension for vehicles comprising a spring composed ofleaves arranged' forwardly of the axle and fixed at one endto the carframe, a second similar spring arranged rearwardly of the axle and theend of the longest leaves of thesprings lying on opposite si les of ahorizontal. plane through the axle, and a shackleforconnecting the endof the longest leaf of each of said springs to the axle, wherebysaidsprings are enabled to have movement independent of each other." i V.

' spring suspension for vehicles. com-. prising a spring composed ofleaves. arranged forwardly of the axle and. fixed. at

one enlto the car frame, a second, similar spring of different lengtharranged rearwardl'y oftheaxle and connected to-the-car frame, theendsof the longest leaves of the sprin s lying on opposite sides of ahorizontalplanethrongh the axle, and ashackle fer connecting theend or"the longest leaf of each of said springs to the axle, whereby saidsprings, are enabled to haveinovement A spring suspension for vehiclescompris ng a spring, composed of leaves ari of the axleand fixed at oneend-to the car frame, a secondsi nilar spring arranged 'rearwardly ofthe axle and connected to the, car traine,the ends of the longest leavesof the springs overlapping andlying on opposite sides of a horizontalranged forwar ll axial plane through the axle, and a shackle the end ofthe longest leaf of each of said springs to the axle,- whereby saidsprings. are enabled to have movement independent of each other.

45. A spring suspension for vehicles coinprising a spring composed ofleaves, ar-. rangedforwardly of the axle and fixed at. one end to thecar frame, a second similar spring of diflerent length arranged rear:wardly ofthe axle and connected to the car. frame, the ends of the,longest leaves of the springs overlapping and lying, on opposite sidesof ahoriaontal al plane through ,the axle, and fa, shackle forconnecting thev end for connecting of thelongestleaf of each of saidsprings V V to the axle, whereby sai'd'springs are enabled to havemovement independent. of each.

other. 7

E 'c. snissnr nena v

